Jumbo Package: Najee Harris joins Trevor Lawrence, others in pushing to play the season safely

Happy Monday, everyone. A crazy weekend that left college football hanging in the balance is behind us, and all we have left is to watch and wait. According to Pete Thamel, the Big Ten is still on the cusp of canceling the season.

The latest issue that is causing concern among university presidents is myocarditis triggered by viral infection. This is obviously concerning for any athlete, and at a minimum requires additional screening and potentially adds to recovery time. This virus sucks, and it can affect any of us. Still, the issue is whether playing football significantly increases a player’s risk of infection, considering the fact that players are going to be tested consistently.

Her father, Michael, also happens to be a cardiac surgeon. Dr. Matt Rhea had something to say about the issue as well.

In any event, the Big Ten is hoping to gain consensus from the other power five commissioners before pulling the plug, but it doesn’t seem that the SEC is going to be ready just yet.

The SEC isn’t moving toward canceling its fall football season, according to conversations with sources throughout the conference in the aftermath of reports the Big Ten was on the verge of doing so. The conference, which unveiled its 10-game schedule on Friday, prefers to take a wait-and-see approach.

The SEC purposefully pushed back its fall camp start to Aug. 17 and season opener to Sept. 26 to monitor how the other sports, including the NBA and MLB, were handling playing games amid the COVID-19 pandemic. That hasn’t changed. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has done a good job of encouraging the league’s 14 presidents and chancellors to hold the line and be patient, according to sources.

At this point it seems unlikely that the season will be played in the fall. Still, the players are making a concerted effort. Alabama RB Najee Harris joined a whirlwind movement to unite players across the country in effort to save the season safely while also forming a players association.

College football players from across the country united Sunday in an attempt to save their season and ensure they will no longer be left out of the sport’s biggest decisions.

Lawrence, Ohio State quarterback Justin Fields, Oklahoma State All-America running back Chuba Hubbard, Alabama running back Najee Harris and numerous other players from Florida State to Oregon posted a graphic on social media with #WeWantToPlay and #WeAreUnited.

“We came to the conclusion, We Want to Play, their message might have been conveyed differently but at the end of the day the message wasn’t too far off from what Big Ten United wanted to promote,” Reynolds said. “Which is we all want to play sports this fall. Every athlete, I’m pretty sure, wants to play their sports. They just want to do so safely.”

The good news is that the players have dropped the Pac 12 group’s silly revenue demands and focused on player safety. The coronavirus has zero chance of permanently killing college football, but a players’ union demanding that type of compensation could. Still, it remains to be seen what effect this movement will have on the presidents’ decision-making, if any. Matt Hayes reported that an AD said that union talk was serving as an impetus for stopping the season, even moreso than the virus, and even warned that it could cause the entire system to crumble.

I don’t know the right answer here, but killing the sport wouldn’t help anyone, would it? Can’t fault the players one bit for standing up for themselves, but that is a concern.

Not much else going on, so that’s about it for today. Hope for the best and have a great week.

Roll Tide.